Primates are an order (Primates) of eutherian mammals characterized by a suite of derived traits associated with arboreal locomotion and enhanced sensory and cognitive capacities. Defining features include grasping extremities with opposable thumbs and, in many taxa, opposable great toes; nails instead of claws on most digits; a postorbital bar or plate; forward-facing orbits enabling stereoscopic vision; and a relatively enlarged brain, especially in regions mediating vision and complex behavior. The order encompasses strepsirrhines (lemurs, lorises), tarsiers, and haplorhine simians (monkeys and apes, including humans), and is a core model group in evolutionary biology, comparative anatomy, neurobiology, and behavioral ecology.
It is one of the strangest puzzles in human evolution. About 90% of people across every human culture favor their right hand—with no other primate species showing a population-level preference on this scale. Despite decades ...
Evolution
May 15, 2026
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Researchers at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) have identified how a key enzyme called ATR protects DNA from breaking when cells copy damaged genetic material, a discovery that could affect how certain cancer ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 15, 2026
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The successive heat waves that sweep across southern Spain in summer have harmful effects on the entire community that lives there, from humans to the microbes that inhabit the soil. Both share an impressive resilience that ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 14, 2026
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Micheline Nzonzi cradled a small and sleepy bonobo, an orphan whose life she will try to save over the next three years or so.
Ecology
May 13, 2026
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Human childbirth is commonly viewed as uniquely difficult and dangerous. The reason: The combination of bipedalism and large brains creates a tight fit between the baby and the birth canal. Research at the University of Vienna ...
Plants & Animals
May 12, 2026
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Although about half of primate species play as adults with other adults, a team of international researchers has just unlocked a key factor in the reason why some don't. The answer lies in the type of society in which the ...
Plants & Animals
May 12, 2026
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I recently lost one of my cocker spaniels, Bobbi. She was fit, healthy and active, but had a catastrophic diagnosis of oral melanoma two months before I had to make the decision that anyone with deeply loved pets dreads.
Veterinary medicine
May 11, 2026
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We are all born completely helpless, with little of the knowledge and skills we will need to survive as adults. Even our ability to communicate is almost entirely learned from our parents or caregivers.
Plants & Animals
May 11, 2026
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A new computational method could dramatically accelerate efforts to map the body's cells in space, according to a study published in Nature Genetics. Spatial multi-omics technologies—often described as ultra-high-resolution ...
Biotechnology
May 7, 2026
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Shapes of beaks and snouts come in an extraordinary range of forms, reflecting adaptations to different lifestyles and environments. Yet beneath this diversity lies a paradox: across birds and mammals, faces are built using ...
Evolution
May 7, 2026
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